We Wear the Mask
by z.ombie-huntress
Summary: Yachiru is no longer under the custody of Zaraki. What he has to do get her back is something that is going to change his life and the life of an auburn-haired woman. Slight AU, there may be OOCness, and rating may be subject to change.
1. Prologue

He growled in frustration as his fist slammed into the wall. They couldn't do this to him. They weren't allowed to. Ever since he came to this stupid place, Yachiru had always been in his care. He fed her, clothed her, protected her, and taught her all that she knows.

Now they tell him that he is giving her a bad impression? That his influence was going to corrupt her? Were they even allowed to do that?

He looked up at the Captain-Commander and glared at him. He would have shouted at him but he knew better. He growled one last time and stalked out of the room.

"I am doing this for her good, Zaraki-taichou, and also for yours."

He slammed the door closed, leaving the old man sighing as he grabbed his silver beard.

"I apologize, Zaraki-taichou, but it must be done."

-

**(A/N): **And so, I should be shot. This pairing is going to take me to hell. It really will. Anyway, this is not cannon to the original storyline. And if I get the characters OOC, I apologize. This is also post-Winter War.

The chapters will be short. I am not going to promise anything long. In fact, I am going to go back to the last 3 chapters that I wrote and make them as long as I can. I am not promising anything.

I will be posting the next chapter by at least tomorrow. I love Spring Break.

**REVIEW IF YOU FEEL LIKE IT!!!**


	2. Chapter 1

She hummed silently to herself as she gently passed the sponge over the large white plate and put it in the other side of the sink. She rinsed it off and put it in the dish rack to let it dry.

Repeat process.

She liked doing this type of house work. It somehow oddly put her at ease, making all of the hard efforts of the day and worries leave her preoccupied mind. Instead she opted to think about certain things like aliens and what great things she was going to prepare for herself tomorrow.

Inoue Orihime had become a fine woman at the age 18. She graduated with honors from high school and was currently in a local university of high prestige. She was in perfect health and was rather happy that all of her friends were safe.

She was happy. She couldn't deny it. Every day she was surrounded by people that she had come to love, had come to adore, and had come to think of as her family. Tatsuki, Rukia, Chad, Renji, Ishida, Ichigo…

"Ichigo," she silently muttered. There was no more use going for him. The last that she heard, he was with Rukia. Apparently all of those years in war had really put them together. And from what she heard, he had gone to look for her after his little battle with Ulquiorra. He didn't care much about her. He had rescued her because of their friendship. Nothing else. And to what more? He became the 13th Division temporary captain. She barely saw him anymore.

And what of those dreams that she had come to hate? To abhor? To detest?

Every night was like reliving the days of the Winter War. The deaths plagued her mind. The terror was there. She just couldn't deny it from her existence. All of those days surrounded in that white terror. Constantly she was reminded of her captivity by her emerald eyed guard. She had come to wake up in cold sweat dreaming those days. Sometimes, she woke up screaming.

Her hands stopped washing as she looked at the next white plate. Her eyes began to glaze slightly as her mind began to carry her to a journey to the past.

A strong, loud knock interrupted her from her trance. She curiously looked at her clock. Her eyes furrowed at the late hour.

"I'm coming," she exclaimed. The only people that could be at this hour would be her close friends or the Shinigami nomads.

She took off her apron and set it on the kitchen counter. She gently smoothed the wrinkle of her clothes and smoothed her hair.

"Who is it?"

"It is us, Orihime."

She opened the door without further question.

"Welcome to my home, Hitsuguya-taichou and Matsumoto-san. Please, come inside."

The first thing that the Shun Shun Rikka user noticed was the tense air that surrounded the captain. He was normally like that anyway, but what caused her to be alarmed was the fact that Matsumoto had the same tense air. They had not come for a friendly visit. That she knew.

"Please sit."

The air was still tense as they sat down on the floor around her small table. The young captain sighed and closed his eyes, visibly relaxing himself as he gathered his cool.

"As you may have noticed, we have not come here for a friendly visit as Ms. Rangiku here has become so accustomed."

She looked over at the auburn haired woman who cracked an embarrassed smile.

"I am well aware, captain. So I must ask, what is the purpose of your visit?"

He opened his eyes once again, looking at her extremely serious expression. He didn't want to admit it, but Orihime had changed. He wished he could say that it was for the better, which it was, but he somehow thought it sad that her bubbly personality seemed to have disappeared.

"I have come here to ask that you come to Soul Society. There had been a… problem at Soul Society. We have come to the conclusion that maybe only you can actually help in this predicament."

Without thinking or asking anything, she quickly answered.

"I will help."

The captain and his lieutenant looked startled at the quick response of the human girl.

"Alright then. We will be here tomorrow night to pick you up. I would advise that you say your farewells. I am also assuming that you are going to the university at the moment. That is not to be of a worry. You can have your classes at Soul Society."

"I do not worry about that. If I may ask, will I be required to stay at Soul Society for a long time?"

"I am afraid so."

"Will I be able to see Tatsuki every now and then?"

Hitsuguya nodded. "I'll have it done."

"Alright."

"It was a pleasure seeing you, Orihime. It'll be fun having you as a neighbor as of now," Matsumoto butted in.

"I will tell you more of the details tomorrow morning. For now, just get some rest. You are going to need it."

They got up and walked out of her house, leaving with a small wave.

She gently closed the door as she sighed. Her hand met her face as she went into deeper thought.

_What have I just done?_

-

Her bags were packed and ready at the door by the time she had gotten home. She departed from her friends, telling them that she had gotten a scholarship for Tokyo University. She told them that she would come in to visit them whenever she had a chance.

The most worried of them all was Tatsuki. She told her the truth of where she was going. Her friend never questioned her decision, but only told her to take care of herself.

Orihime walked toward the small alter for her brother. She slowly knelt in front of his alter and started to pack the only thing that she had left for last.

"Hello, Sora. How are you today? I am fine. I guess I am ready to leave to Soul Society. Who knows? Maybe I will be happy there. I won't be living alone anymore, or, at least I hope not." She gently grabbed the incense holder and cleaned it before she put it in a little case.

"Hitsuguya-taichou says that he will tell me more of the details before we arrive to Soul Society. I hope I have volunteered for something that will do someone and many people some good." She took the wilting flowers and put them into the small trash bin. She walked to the sink of her kitchen and emptied the vase.

"I wonder how all of the people of Soul Society are? Last time I heard, they were all fine. Some of them are still hurt and ill from the Winter War, but that should be solved soon." She took his picture into her hands and gently touched the glass covered photo.

"I hope you don't mind me taking all of this away from you, but I will put them back once I get settled into my new home. If you don't mind, I will put you here and take you with me when the time comes. I love you, Sora. I always will."

-

"Hell will I do it."

"It is the only way, Zaraki-taichou. I have gone over the details with the Captain-Commander and he has agreed to the plans. If you really want Yachiru back, you are going to have to do this."

"Is there no other alternative, Hitsuguya-taichou?"

"I am afraid not. This is the only option and you are required to meet the standards set by him."

Kenpachi sighed and looked down at his untouched tea. The steam rose from it, filling his nose of the sweet scent of green tea leaves.

"We have found a few women that are willing to take their side by you as your wife. You have one week to choose the one woman that will be wedded to you by this Sunday. Choose wisely, Zaraki-taichou."

The white haired captain looked at his comrade closely.

"I must depart."

"Alright. Thank you for the help."

-

The knock came to her as she ran her hands on the wall one last time. She was literally saying goodbye to her home. She ignored the knocking for a while, touching the door frame of the kitchen, her favorite room of the house. So many things were made in that kitchen. So many thoughts were thought of when the simmering of food filled the apartment with noise.

The knock was consistent on the other side of the door. A small sigh escaped her lips, but she put a bright smile on her face.

Hopefully they would buy it.

"Well, let us go, my darling!"

Orihime's smile fell a little as small curiosity started to peek on her face. "Where is Hituguya-taichou?"

"Oh, don't worry about him. He is with Kenpachi at the moment, so I had to come alone."

"Oh, alright."

"Well, then, are you ready to go?"

Orihime smiled at Matsumoto, albeit it was a little bitter. "As ready as I will ever be, Matsumoto-san."

"Alright then, let us go!"

-

**(A/N): **Ok, shoot me. This chapter was lame with a capital 'F'. But Sora has a point in there. I was gonna take it out, but my other chapters have him in there. So... yeah.

My updates WILL NOT be daily. Honest to god, I am to lame and stupid for that. At the moment, I only have around... two or three extra chapters written. And that is about it.

As always, **REVIEW IF YOU FEEL LIKE IT!!!**

**[Edit!: I made a few adjustments to this chapter and I added a few paragraphs. It would be wise to reread the first few paragraphs of this chapter for you may be confused about what the hell is going on. I am sorry about not making the changes while I had the chapter in my hands. (I actually did. I just forgot to save the changes.) Sorry about that and thank you!)  
**


	3. Chapter 2

**NOTICE: If you are one of my watchers, it would be wise to reread the few first paragraphs of the last chapters. I had made a few changes to the original document and I forgot to save it first. OTL. I am sorry.**

**Thank you and read on!**

**-**

Matsumoto led Orihime through the doors to Soul Society. Two beautiful Hell Butterflies led the way. Orihime looked back at her home and town one last time. She was going to miss Karakura.

"So what am I going to do at Soul Society," Orihime asked. She clutched the picture of Sora closer to her chest as the door closed behind her. The only bag that she bothered to pack was being held by her walking companion and the little case holding Sora's shrine things was in her hand.

"Well, Orihime, I think you are going to be rather heartbroken by this matter."

The younger girl looked over to Matsumoto, giving her a bitter smile.

"I can take it," she replied.

Matsumoto sighed. "Well, this matter had to do with giving some help and assistance to Unohana-taichou and to the 13th Division. Unohana-taichou still has her hands full with the patients since the Winter War and we are getting into another small predicament with trying to heal some of the test subjects of Mayuri-taichou. The 13th Division, as you are aware of, has lost their captain. It is under a very high strain and we were wondering if you could probably give a helping hand. We think that you are highly capable of that."

"I thought Ichigo had that covered, though."

"I am afraid that kid is having a hard time as well. As you are aware of as well, he is taking care of his human life along with his Shinigami life. He simply does not have the time to come back and forth as much as he wants. He gave us the recommendation of taking you to take care of part of the paper work of the division. He said that you are very good in that type of work."

Matsumoto looked upon Orihime. Normally, she would have blushed at such a compliment that Ichigo just gave, but her hand only gripped the picture frame further.

"And, I am also afraid that the 11th Division had just lost their lieutenant."

Orihime turned around with fear in her eyes. "What happened to Yachiru?!"

"She was taken out the custody of Zaraki-taichou under some boring rule of sorts. This has really blown hard on the division."

"Oh, poor Kenpachi," Orihime said as she looked sadly to the ground. Imagining both of them apart was rather hard, as she had come to seem them together almost all of the time. "Is there anything I can do to help him?"

Matsumoto sighed. "I am afraid not," she said. "The only way to know is by asking my taichou. He s handling the case at the moment."

Their conversation was cut and all of the formalities between the two auburn haired women were cut. They stepped out of the dark cave smiling, happy to see the bright light of the sun outside in Soul Society.

"Why am I always so at ease in this place, Matsumoto?"

The busty woman turned to her and gave her a smirk. "I have no idea, but we have to report to my taichou before he gets a heart attack out of anger."

-

"Oh, taichou!"

Matsumoto slammed the door open, making some of the papers from Hitsuguya's desk drop to the floor.

"Matsumoto, stop your boisterous entrances. I, as well as all of the other division members from the other end of the building, can hear you. It is embarrassing when I get complaints from Mayuri about your loud tendencies."

"Oh, wow, am I that loud? Aw, captain, you are just saying that to make me feel special," Matsumoto said in a bashful voice. "Here is Orihime as you have requested."

The meek girl smiled and bowed before him. "Hello, Hitsuguya-taichou," Orihime said.

He nodded in acknowledgement. "If you will, can you leave us so I can speak to her?"

"Nope."

Hitsuguya sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was no use fighting with this woman.

"I am assuming that you told her all of her purpose here, right?"

"Sure did, captain. I told her of all the recent events and her duties here. And if I do recall, didn't you have a question for my taichou?" Matsumoto looked at her expectantly.

Orihime quickly nodded. "Yes! W-well, I heard about Zaraki-taichou. I-I was wondering if I could do anything to help in the matter."

Hitsuguya shook his head. "I think that the best we can do to help is just to leave him be. He hasn't really taken the blow well."

Orihime nodded while trying to control her emotions.

'**You're useless,**' the voice in her head screamed. She knew well that it was her who thought it.

"Well, both of you are dismissed. Please show her to her quarters and get her acquainted to her surroundings. Also, get her to the 13th Division. As for the 4th Division, take her there tomorrow."

"Okay, taichou," Matsumoto replied. Her voice was full of enthusiasm.

They were about to walk out, but a stern voice called back the busty woman.

"And you, Ms. Rangiku, I want you back in the office. You have paper work to finish."

"Oh, captain, can I just be let go from it today? I went for Orihime and I am oh, so tired and-"

"I want you back in my office, Ms. Rangiku. That is an order," the not-so-small captain stated.

"Sure thing, taichou. See you later!"

-

The two busty women walked in silence. There was no tension, but it felt a little awkward to Orihime. The silence was a little unnerving. So unnerving that it reminded her of white colored walls…

"This is where you will be staying, Orihime-chan. From what the taichou has told me, you will be taking charge of the division. Now, there is the lieutenant to take care of the actual members, you just have to keep charge of the paper work," Rangiku said, opening the door to an office that held two desks.

"Is that large one going to be mine," Orihime asked.

The busty woman nodded and folded her arms across her chest. "Yes. Ichigo will only be able to come to the division every three to four days. It's going to be a lot of work, but we all have faith in you. As for your room, you will be staying next to the lieutenant's quarters."

"Who is the lieutenant," Orihime asked. Rangiku started walking towards the living chambers and stopped towards her room.

"Oh, it's someone quite new. His name is Takeru. He's quite the cutie. He was aiming to be the captain, but he didn't make the cut. He settled for lieutenant as that was what Ichigo had decided." Rangiku opened the door to her room and displayed something that was simplistic but homey. There was a bed, a nightstand, a desk with a chair, and a connected bathroom. Everything was white.

"When will I be meeting them," she asked. She walked inside and set her case and the frame of her brother gingerly on the bed. Matsumoto followed suit and set her bag down.

"Tomorrow is your inauguration to the 13th division. You will be introduced to all of the seated members as well as some of the other people around here. And you know what to do for Unohana."

Rangiku started for the door and stopped. She turned around and smiled. "Do you need me to give you the rest of the marvelous tour," she asked. She was more thank willing to help.

Orihime shook her head. "It's alright. I prefer to explore on my own," she replied.

The busty woman left and shut the door behind her. She left Orihime on her own.

Not before long, the auburn-haired girl reopened the door. She silently walked out of her room and made her way to the open halls. No one was actually out at the moment. She figured that they were either out training, doing their guard duty, or simply out to enjoy whatever it was that they liked to do.

Was it a good thing? She couldn't decide the answer to her question as she moved with caution. She wanted to find the 10th Division room quickly. A little visit to the bubble Yachiru would do her some good.

After a while of walking in circles, she decided that she was lost.

"You should've accepted the rest of the tour, Orihime." She felt angry at herself and thus, she decided to go ahead and just wait where she was. Maybe if she was lucky enough, Matsumoto or even Hitsuguya himself would pass by. She smiled at the improbability.

"You look quite charming with that smile on your face," a voice said. "For the past minute, you had been frowning."

Startled by the voice, she quickly turned her head at the guilty person. To her surprise, a tall, handsome man stood just a few feet away from her. His brown hair danced in the wind as his smiling eyes shined in the moonlight. Something about this man made him appear pure.

"Thank you," she replied. Her head turned for a moment down as she processed the compliment.

The man smiled at her downcast head and started to walk away.

"Wait! Do you by any chance know where Hitsuguya-taichou's office is? I'm kind of lost," she said, giving him a shy glance.

He turned back to her. "I just came from there. In fact, if you keep walking straight from her and open the first set of doors, you will find him arguing with Matsumoto-san."

Orihime giggled. "Thank you," she said.

He gazed at her cautiously. "Do you need me to walk you there," he asked.

She shook her head and said, "No. You've given me enough help as it is. Thank you."

The man nodded and continued his night stroll.

She paid no more attention to him and quickly made her way to where he had instructed her. And true to his word, there she heard the fruity sounds of Rangiku's voice and the not so amused voice of Hitsuguya. They were once again fighting over paper work.

"Taichou, you are such a stick in the mud. Be happy! Smile! You always have that grave look on your face. It makes me think that you have a stick up your—"

"Rangiku! I will not tolerate you any more. Go to your desk and get to work!"

Orihime heard feet and then the sound of squeaking chair. "I was going to say up your fun-tube…" she muttered.

She stifled the giggle into her hand. She needed to get the directions before the night got any darker. She gently knocked on the door.

"Come in," came the irritated voice of the captain. Either way, she slid the door open and walked in.

"Sorry for coming again, but… do you mind giving me some directions?"

Both of them seemed startled with her presence.

"What is it that you need," Hitsuguya asked. He stood from his chair and walked over to the girl.

"I want to know where they are keeping Yachiru. I want to see her again."

-

She walked down the bright halls that they had escorted her in and walked towards the door that the nice lady who was the caretaker had told her. She had said that that was where they were keeping Yachiru.

She gently knocked the door. She opened the door and walked inside.

"Boobies! What are you doing here," Yachiru exclaimed as she ran to hug her. Orihime kneeled down and started stroking her hair.

They spent a few moments like that until she heard a dark, rumbling voice.

"What are you doing here?"

-

**A/N: **Ok, so this chapter was a little bit of a pain to write. Do you know how hard it was? I guess not. Shoot me again for leaving a cliffhanger and shoot me for ending it so badly. But I guess you guys still love me. Right...?

Right?

**RIGHT?!?!?!?!**

Yeah, you guys do.

As always, **REVIEW IF YOU FEEL LIKE IT!!!**

**P.S: **Thank you to the few who reviewed and to those many who favorited the story and me and who is watching the story. It makes me feel warm and bubbly inside. And many apologies if there are typos or anything of the like. I'll make revisions later. Also, there will be no update tomorrow. Sorry!**  
**


	4. PLEASE READ IMPORTANT SORT OF

Hey guys. **Z.H.** here asking for a little opinion from fellow readers and peers. Some (probably not any of you) may know that I am rewriting this story. So, the only thing that I wanted to ask is if I should change the setting of the story and make it AU. It would be in the modern times. The same one that Orihime and her friends are in, but there will be no Soul Society or anything like that. All Shinigami and dead entities will be on Earth, living as human beings.

What do you think?

Just let me know. Either way, I think I might still turn out writing it like I mentioned above. Depends on the responses I get and what I feel. The new version of "We Wear the Mask" will be out next Monday.

Thank you~

Z.H.


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